By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation at 20h00 today on developments in relation to the country’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Today’s address follows meetings in recent days of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) and Cabinet.
The country has recorded 1 453 761 COVID-19 cases, with 4 525 new cases identified as of Sunday evening.
South Africa has officially received its first shipment of one million Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
The Emirates cargo carrying the first batch of the lifesaving jabs from India touched down at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday afternoon.
Ramaphosa, together with his Deputy David Mabuza, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Vaccines, witnessed the momentous occasion.
Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, flanked the two leaders.
Plastic-wrapped bundles of the in-demand vaccine were off-loaded from the plane into the unmarked refrigerated trucks.
The jabs were then transported to a cold room lab where they will undergo quality checks, which may take between 10 and 14 days.
This is before government can kick start its three-phase mass inoculation campaign where healthcare workers are first in line to receive the jab in the next coming weeks.
Clad in a reflective safety vest,Ramaphosa accepted the receipt of the vaccine, which was met by cheers and applause from his delegation, before his official convoy whisked him away.
South Africa procured 1.5 million vaccines from the Serum Institute of India (SII), licensed to produce a vaccine that has been developed by the multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, in collaboration with the University of Oxford.
The second batch is scheduled to arrive later in the month.
According to government, Biovac will play an important role in the quality assurance, warehousing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
Ramaphosa has described the consignment as the start of the vaccine rollout, which he describes as the largest and most complex logistical vaccine undertaking in South Africa’s history.
“The scale of delivery is unprecedented in terms of the number of people who have to be reached within a short space of time.”
Government said the goal of the vaccination programme is to achieve immunity across the population.
The State aims to vaccinate 40 million South Africans to ensure that the population has the immunity it needs to fight COVID-19, which has already claimed over 44 000 lives in the country.
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Video Courtesy of ENCA.